Legitimising discourses in the framework of European integration: The politics of Euro adoption in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Despite their common history, the countries of the former Czechoslovakia appear to have adopted markedly different policies towards Eurozone accession. Whereas Slovakia joined the common currency in January 2009 the Czech Republic has adopted a more sceptical attitude with the question of Euro adoption postponed indefinitely. Given the relative similarities of the two states' institutional apparatuses and economic structures it is unsurprising that standard accounts of monetary policymaking struggle to explain the divergence in attitudes towards the EMU. This article presents a constructivist understanding of the politics of Eurozone accession strategies by focusing on the role of ‘legitimising discourses’ in the political process. These are conceptualised as the historically-informed sum total of inter-subjectively held beliefs held by elites and masses within a particular political system. By focusing on the ideational aspects of Euro adoption we are able to understand how each country's early experience with EU accession fed into differing perceptions of national purpose and the relative importance of European integration. Whereas the Czech Republic increasingly favoured greater national assertion and policy independence, Slovakia came to understand Eurozone membership as an important tool in reversing the feelings of isolationism experienced during the Mečiar period. A focus on these competing discourses helps us to understand the divergence in Euro-adoption strategies and in turn serves to enrich the debate on EU economic and monetary integration by highlighting the limitations of rationalist analyses.